There's Always Hope
by Annemiek
Summary: A scene from the Jungle Movie. Oneshot. Helga gives up completely, but Brainy manages to find her and helps her back to life.


_Most of you probably know about The Jungle Movie.._  
_Well.. at some point in the plot line, Helga lost all hope. And this is what I think might have happened._

* * *

"Arnold.." .. "Arnold!", I softly cried to myself. I knew that he couldn't hear me, no matter how hard I would yell his name. I had been wandering through the jungle for hours. The sky was getting darker, and raindrops started to fall down from the sky, but I couldn't tell if that was the reason for the light to fade.. I couldn't tell what time of day it was anymore.. ..and I didn't care.  
I leaned against a big tree, and the images of what had happened flashed before my eyes. I still didn't remember exactly how I managed to escape, I just remembered that I ran, ran.., RAN..! The adrenaline pushed me further and further, faster and faster, until I didn't hear anyone following me anymore. I felt my heartbeat bouncing in the back of my head. A moment later I looked up, only to find myself being lost. And I had been wandering ever since.

***

The sound of the wind, the rain, and the birds somehow managed to calm me down a little. I felt a little like that time at the cheese festival, lonely, abandoned.. Only this time it was me who abandoned my friends, and that felt ten times worse. I remember that I wanted to search for help, but what was I thinking?! There's nothing I could do, there was no help here. This wasn't like facing a corrupt company and saving a neighborhood, these were real, murderous pirates, who were ten times stronger then me.. I felt so helpless... I would probably be eaten by a wild animal even before I could reach the next morning. But worst of all, I let Arnold down. I promised myself to protect him, with my life if necessary.. I looked up at the sky and the dark clouds which were slightly visible through the tree branches, and I felt my tears stinging when they touched the cuts and scratches on my cheeks and chin. For one moment I thought I wouldn't even mind if an animal would get me..

***

Right on cue, I heard a small branch cracking. And another one. Something was moving in the bushes, and closing in on me. My eyes widened, I froze and held my breath. Yet again, my heart was bouncing like crazy. _I'm so stupid. STUPID! WHY did I have to run into the forest? Why couldn't I come up with a better plan to save Arnold? WHY?!_  
When the unidentified creature came closer, I heard a growling noise, the breathing of some kind of large animal.. What should I do? Run? Hide? Attack? But my body couldn't move. The only movement was the flowing of my tears, dripping off my cheeks onto my hands.  
The noise was as close as it could get now, behind the huge tree that I was leaning against. And all of a sudden.. it stopped. The breathing was gone.

***

My body was still unable to move, something was there.. I tried to look as far to the left and right as possible without having to turn my head, but couldn't see any movement. Everything was quiet for a moment.. until something touched my shoulder! I had never been that scared in my life, I jumped aside but my legs refused to cooperate and I collapsed onto the soft ground. I looked up at the dark figure that was standing there.. A person, a kid.. He stepped forward and I looked into two brown eyes. Suddenly I recognized the breathing as well.. "HGG.. Hi.. HGG.. Are you okay?" Once I recovered from the shock I felt so angry, I felt like smashing his face, but at the same time I couldn't be any happier to see the weird kid who had been stalking me for over 7 years now. It was too much for me to handle. I didn't even try to get back on my feet. I started to cry again, I was broken. I duck my face into my hands and let out a few cries before trying to speak. "No! I'm not alright!", I cried. "Arnold's still in there! And there's nothing.." I paused to take a deep, shaky breath.. "..nothing I can do." I was looking up at Brainy, he just stood there. He watched me, but with the saddest look in his eyes, and I noticed a tear running down his cheek as well. My sight was slightly blurry because of my own tears, but I noticed that Brainy put his hands in his pockets and looked down. "HGG.. There's always hope.. HGG"

***

Usually I would've argued with him, I would've punched him.. But I didn't. Hope? I didn't see it. How could there be any hope left? We were lost, it was getting dark, there were dangerous creatures out there, and dangerous pirates guarding my love. And yet again I couldn't stop myself from crying while crushing a hand full of wet leaves and little nuts that were lying on the ground.  
Suddenly the wheezing caught my attention again and I looked up at Brainy, who was still standing on the same place, hadn't moved at all, but he moved his head to look at his pocket, and then at me. With his low, crackled voice he said my name, "HGG.. Helga.. HGG..". He pulled something out of his pocket, a golden chain, with something attached to it. A golden heart-shaped object.. My eyes shot open and instinctively my hand shot to my chest.  
My locket!

***

He bend forward to hand me the locket. I had never seen him smile like that.. It was creepy, but comforting at the same time.. I held out my hand, it was shaking, but I didn't care. I just felt glad to be reunited with my most valuable possession.  
And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I realized how much we had in common, how much we were alike, both stuck with this obsession. We never gave up.  
But still, we weren't exactly the same.. I loved Arnold. I loved him. And I didn't want anyone else near him. I wanted him only to myself.. But Brainy.. he loved me, but he loved me so much that he just wanted me to be happy. He didn't care about his own well-being. He didn't care about his own happiness. It was then that I realized that he was right. There IS always hope. I looked at my locket, at Arnold's picture. I smiled and crawled back onto my feet. I put the locket back under my shirt and turned to face Brainy. "Thank you", and I pecked him on the forehead. He just stood there, like he always did. I smiled at him, I now knew there was more to Brainy then the stalking geek that had been bugging me for years. I grabbed his hand and pulled him with me, into the direction he came from. "Let's go, we've got a footballhead to save!", I said. "Ow, and the rest of the lame-brains.."

_You know what? One day, we might be good friends_, I thought to myself.

* * *

_I hope you liked it!_

_I always like to think they grow up to be good friends :)_


End file.
